A Great Day at Work

I dipped my toe back into my pre-diagnosis, wonderful life as an attorney at O'Melveny & Myers today. I'm not officially going back to work until sometime this summer, after chemo is over and I've had a little bit of time for vacation, but today, in a way, marked my first step back. And it felt great.

I headed to the office this morning (okay, it was more like noon -- this cancer warrior needs her rest!) to meet with my two mentors, Mark and Carla. The topic of our meeting was my yearly review, an accounting of how I did in every aspect of my job at OMM. This doesn't just include the normal stuff you'd think of -- my legal skills, relationships with clients and partners, etc. -- but goes far beyond that. Our firm has three values: excellence, leadership, and citizenship. One's leadership skills in and out of the firm, relationships with attorneys and staff, and general contribution to the firm family are also essential to any review of an attorney's progress at OMM. And so they were with mine.

I'll cut to the chase here: it was a really great review. And talking about my progress and contributions to the firm made me so excited to get back to OMM. I can't wait to work with my colleagues again, take advantage of new and exciting opportunities, and improve myself as an attorney and a citizen of the firm. When you go head to head with cancer, you really take stock of the things you're really passionate about and what you're just doing to pass the time. Being an attorney at OMM most definitely falls into the "things I'm passionate about" category.

Tonight, I went to the Century City Bar Association's Annual Banquet and Awards Ceremony to support my mentor Carla, who won their Litigator of the Year award. Slipping out of my post-op sweats and into my old power suit was awesome. It was like I was reclaiming my former life, a life I loved so much. The event was fantastic -- I saw tons of my colleagues, who all lovingly welcomed me back home. Carla also knocked it out of the park (as usual) with a brilliant speech. On top of it all, she mentioned me, the blog, and the fact that I'd be the Mayor of Los Angeles in about 15 years time. A totally unexpected and wonderful shout-out from a woman I admire and love very much, so you know that WunderGlo's heart was touched. And I'm very happy about the plug to my future constituents, too!

My preview of my future life as a full-time mid-level associate at OMM was sweet. The path outstretched before me is so clear and exciting, and it's just the kind of inspiration I need to close the book on this cancer once and for all.